A solemn start to the trading day, a moment of silence, marking the nearly 3,000 lives lost 13 years ago in the September 11 attacks.
When trading did get underway, stocks grinded lower, but managed to fight back with only the Dow closing down.
David Rosenberg of Glufkin Sheff thinks the market is overpriced and expects a coming minor pullback.
SOUNDBITE: DAVID ROSENBERG, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GLUSKIN SHEFF AND ASSOCIATES (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"What's the next phase? We could go through this period right now and the next several months of some uncertainty regarding Fed policy, so that could have an impact as well but a lot of my reasoning right now is that valuations are too high. We got too far ahead of ourselves."
Some of the market weakness - tied to an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims. Unemployment lines are at the longest they've been since late June.
Another reason: oil. Crude oil touched a 16-month low below $91 before bouncing back. Oil companies like Chevron, Chesapeake Energy and Valero all fell, but ExxonMobil turned higher.
On the upside: Lululemon. The yoga apparel retailer beat quarterly profit forecasts and raised its outlook for the year. Online sales - playing a big role in the company's comeback from last year's brouhaha over overly revealing yoga pants. Shares surging to a three-month high.
Radio Shack warns it may have to file for bankruptcy after announcing a loss for the 10th straight quarter. The struggling retailer says it is exploring other options including putting itself up for sale. That's what investors focused on - pushing the stock up by 9-1/2 percent.
Activision Blizzard says it has a winner on its hands. The launch of "Destiny" resulted in more than half a billion dollars in sales on its first day. The video game publisher claims it's the biggest franchise launch in history. Investors, however, giving the stock a minor bounce higher.
In Europe: authorities are going ahead with plans to hit Russia with a new round of sanctions beginning Friday. Stocks in Germany and France stayed closed to the flat line, while shares in the U.K. lost about half a percent.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: